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it's the ideal way to start your heart healthy day. try post shredded wheat. this has been medifacts for post shredded wheat. >> steve: shot of the motorcycle. he's no nba star, but knows how to slam dunk. eddie, 15-year-old sea otter who suffers from arthritis in elbows. keepers at the oregon zoo taught him to you to dunk to help exercise his joints. very nice. >> brian: arthritis? i didn't know there was a cause for that. >> gretchen: he should get together with that little kid we had here that could shoot baskets. >> steve: maria, you onto tore give him the plug. >> scooby do live will be in the beacon theater coming up friday, saturday and sunday. so catch them live. >> gretchen: in new york. and all across the country. tomorrow michelle malkin, bob massi and much more. have a great day. bill: packed show there and packed show here. breaking news from overnight. eyewitnesses saying it was like a earthquake. a gas explosion rocking a restaurant in kansas city,

missouri. look at the flames inside. happened at the height of happy hour. good morning. i'm bill hemmer. welcome to "america's newsroom." good morning, martha. martha: good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. police with cadaver dogs are searching through the rubble. they're looking for possible victims it. we're getting reports at least one person is unaccounted for this morning. more than a dozen people were rushed to the hospital. at least three of those are critically injured. bill: want to get an update from the scene. mike tobin live from kansas city. mike, what do we know at this point? good morning. >> reporter: what we know everything is stopped related to investigation. i will back out of the way. the reason is everything has stopped is so the cadaver dogs could be brought in. city leaders held a press conference. they made it pretty clear. the name of the game is to provide answers to the loved ones and unemploy of jj's restaurant who has been missing sips the time of the

blast. look at the charred remains. this tremendous fireball shook this neighborhood about 6:00 last night t shattered windows and buildings blocks away. it shook cars. about a dozen people were hospitalized. we have three injuries critical or serious. what is interesting about injuries. you do have burn injuries and smoke inhalation. the predominant injuries are traumatic in nature, concussion, broken bones. things resulted not necessarily from the heat of the fire but from the force of the blast, bill. bill: we're hearing construction may have led to this. is there an explanation, mike, how that could have happened? >> well the city leaders this morning pointed towards construction crews with missouri gas and electric who were working in the area. the people who came out here, eyewitnesses to the scene, said there was an overwhelming smell of gas in the area in the hour leading up to the explosion. >> we finally called the gas company.

they came out and checked inside our building. they said we were above the limits that was healthy and that we needed to evacuate. so, but he stepped out the door. it wasn't two machines when we were grabbing our stuff and the explosion hit. it hit you like a shock wave. >> one of my friend was just a couple of blocks up the road here and he was home. and, felt this huge, like, movement in his home. and then he immediately called me because he knows that i go to the bar, you know, about once a week or so, and was concerned if i was there. >> reporter: so there was a gas investigation. there was also an attempt to evacuate the area and shut down any heat sources or open flames. and that was just minutes before that explosion was triggered, bill. bill: there are details. when we get them, we'll bring them to our viewers. good to have you there, mike in kansas city, missouri. mike tobin on scene.

martha: another telling story this morning. we have some new developments in the "blade runner" murder case. oscar pistorius is back in court. police say, early reports it was testosterone with needles. there is also discussion that this is some form of legal herbal remedy. all that needs to be sorted out still. also .38-caliber ammunition found in the house as well. his lawyers are trying to defend him. they say he accidentally shot his girl friend reeva stein camp after firing four shots through the bathroom door. prosecutors are vowing to prove that shooting was premeditated saying this in court. she locked that door for a purpose. we will get to the heart, we will get to the root, in other words of that purpose. greg palkot joins me now streaming live from pretoria, south africa. obviously this crime is gripping the nation of south africa. what is the latest there? >> reporter: yeah, martha, it was another riveting

today, testimony, proceedings at the courthouse behind me. this bail application hearing turning into a possible preview of a potential murder trial for olympic athlete oscar pistorius. pistorius was in court today. he was grim-faced on the stand today. the lead detective in the case, he said that they heard a neighbor saying that there was shouting nonstop for one hour before the killing. the claim also was the shooting was at point-blank range through a bathroom door. the victim reeva steenkamp inside. the stories broke down the wounds of the slain girl were detailed, to the head, elbow and hip. those containers said to contain testosterone might bab up some who claim that the killing was a result of steroid rain. we caught up with the brother of pistorius, carl, and this is what he didn't have to say to me. take a listen. is your brother innocent. i'm from fox news. [inaudible]

just a brief statement is that possible? can you just tell me that? do you feel he is innocent of all those charges? the detective argued against bail being granted to pistorius, claiming that he could be a flight risk. we must say though, martha, there is tough cross-examination coming from the defense team, maybe a preview of things to come. martha: greg, we understand that, i know it was tough trying to get something out of pistorius's brother but you did speak to a friend of reeva steenkamp's, right? >> reporter: yeah. she is really the missing, person martha in the proceedings. obviously the person at the heart of this case. there was a emin moral service yesterday for her. it was moving and we spoke with a friend of hers who said he was shocked when he heard the news. also told me there was much more to her than a model, than a reality tv star. here is a bit of the emotional exchange i had with him.

take a listen. >> what a loss. >> reporter: if you could speak to her now, what would you say? >> what a good friend she was and how many people loved her. >> reporter: emotional stuff, martha. the hearing is over for today. it is scheduled to start again tomorrow at 11. we'll hear more gripping stuff i am sure. back to you. martha: this is one to follow every step of the way. greg, thank you very much. we are getting our first look now at the blueprint of pistorius's bathroom, the layout of how all of this happened where police say that reeva steenkamp was shot to death. the court showing the floor plan in order to piece together his movements in the moments before this shooting. he argues that he fired through a closed bathroom door and that he believed that there was a burglar inside. boy, every moment of that evening is --

[inaudible] bill: in this country a major american city teetering again on the brink of bankruptcy. michigan's governor now moving closer to taking over the city of detroit to save it from financial ruin. it is deep in the hole, folks. detroit is borrowing money to stay afloat, adding to $14 billion of debt. much of that coming from pensions and health care costs for retired workers. stuart varney, host of "varney & company" on the fox business network. stuart, what's the option here because the republican governor, snyder, has about 30 days to decide what? >> okay, you used the expression detroit financially ruined. it is already financially ruined. bill to answer your question directly, seems like there are two options here, a bailout from the state or the feds. that means more money flowing into detroit from outside, or, bankruptcy. where a judge would decide who gets what. let me fill in the blanks here. detroit can not manage itself. it can not meet its current

bills. it can't meet its payroll. it is literally weeks away totally running out of money. as you said it has $14 billion worth of debt it has not got a prayer of repaying. the governor of michigan has got 30 days to appoint a emergency financial manager that manager would take all the financial decisions for the city of detroit. what could that manager do? he could look for a bailout, money from michigan or washington, d.c. that would be essentially a bailout of sorts. or, could take the bankruptcy option. that would send a shiver down the spine of the unions because a judge would decide, do the unions get the pensions which they're committed to receive. bill: did you say 14 billion? >> yes. that's the outstanding debt plus their unfunded liability to pay the pensions of retired government workers. bill: i got you. i had a figure here of 327 million. that is the current budget deficit. >> yes. bill: that 14 billion figure is huge. all right, from december of 2012, two months ago, here

is joanne watson, city council member in the city of detroit for her solution out of this. >> after the election of jimmy carter mayor coleman alexander young, he went to washington, d.c., he came back home with some bacon. that's what you do. that's what you do. this is, this is our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that. of course not just that but why not? bill: i don't know if she still feels that way today but that sound like a request for a bailout, stuart. >> flat-out. that was a request. it was many a demand for a bailout. we voted for you in overwhelming numbers. now you're elected president for a second term. come through with federal money, bail out detroit. that is what it was all

about. bill: thank you, stuart. we'll see what detroit does. the clock is running. see you 9:20 on fbn. martha has more. mart the some of the numbers behind the story in detroit. unemployment has averaged 18% in detroit. 36% of the population lives below the poverty level. the population is 700,000. that is what it was in 1910. that is a far cry a couple decades ago when that city was home to nearly two million people. bill: you are paying more at the grocery store. food prices jumping .7%, helping jump u.s. wholesale prices. the first time we've seen that since december. food prices dropped at the end of last year. so you put the food price, gasoline price up for 33 straight days you have a one-two whammy on the budget. 11 minutes past. martha: we're getting started this morning. president obama is pointing the finger at republicans

saying it will be their fault if automatic spending cuts hit last week. a top republican says the president should look in the mirror if he wants someone to blame. our panel will take this on fair and balanced. bill: look at this video. this is propoganda warfare out of north korea. a chilling video showing president obama and u.s. troops in flames. how that regime says it will take the next step toward nuclear domination. we'll get into that. martha: incredible. a very feisty town hall meeting. senator john mccain fielded tense questions about the immigration system. >> build the doong fence. where is the fence? >> in case you missed it i showed you -- >> that is not a fence. >> it is not a fence? it is a banana. we're putting up a bana with 600 millions of appropriations we have. sir, you you're entitled to your opinion. you're not -- ved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe

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martha: boy, welcome to snowy february, folks.

these pictures come to us this morning from flagstaff, arizona where they have 16 inches of snow expected there. it is about 80 miles from the grand canyon, a couple hours from phoenix. pretty snowfall happening in beautiful flagstaff, arizona this morning. a couple of feet they're going to get. bill: the mountains are calling. martha: looks pretty good to me, yeah. bill: 15 past. house speaker john boehner with a direct preto the president to avoid the sequester cuts to take place in nine days. writing in "the wall street journal" speaker boehner says most americans are just hearing about this washington creation for the first time, the sequester. what they might not realize from about obama's statements it is a product of the president's own failed leadership. tucker carlson, editor, daily caller. alan colmes, host of the "alan colmes radio show". both are fox news contributors and both are here to debate this. i think if you closed your eyes yesterday you probably would have heard two things. millionaires and billionaires. it is their fault and republicans are in the way.

it is their fault as well. tucker, what do you hear? >> well i heard if only the rich would pay their fair share and republicans would stop standing up for hedge fund managers that, you know, the first-responders could get paid. i mean i saw a display of profound demagoguery and i saw a guy who is not at all interested in making a deal. i will say obama's a pretty skillful negotiator. the point of the sequester to convince americans that every federal employee is absolutely necessary. if you cut any part of the federal budget you will wait in line at the airport for four hours or your child will not have a first grade teacher that is completely a lie. but as a matter of optics as a propaganda piece i think it is effective. bill: what about that, alan? >> well the, boehner, to talk about leadership, when he keeps pointing fingers, blaming the president, called the president cowardly. he called, let the senate do it. this is a guy who wants to absolve himself of any responsibility. can't keep his own caucus in line. let's not forget this is a republican house that turned

down, $2.50 in spending cuts for every dollar in tax revenue. they don't want to close tax loopholes. boehner is calling fingers and the president names. bill: this is also what boehner said at the end. "wall street journal" piece on the screen now. so as the president's outrage about the sequester grows in coming days republican haves a simple response. mr. president, we agree your sequester is bad policy. what spending are you willing to cut to replace it? what cuts, alan? >> he offered cuts all across the board. he offered cuts, certainly in the military. he has offered to, to close the gap in medicare and medicaid. they have offered to close the tax loopholes which republicans don't seem to want to do. again boehner is pointing fingers and calling the president names. what is the solution has? what is boehner's solution? bill: i tell you what you do. go back to november of 2011. bear in mind what bob woodward told chris wallace on sunday morning.

this was the president's idea. he approached harry reid with the idea. >> and they agreed to it. bill: house spub republicans voted twice to avoid and eventually capitulated. a lot of fingerprints. hang on alan. >> they vote the two to one for this. bill: in one second. in the end you're right about that. this is november of 2011 when the president suggested that any effort to veto or any effort to continue with these cuts would ultimately be vetoed by him. not my words, his. roll this. >> already some in congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts. my message to them is simple. no. i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts, domestic and defense spending. there will be no easy offramps on this one. bill: no easy offramps, tucker. forget about if the cuts come his way. no. how do we square that with

what is happening now. >> i will say alan is right, that the republicans agreed to this. they didn't think it would come to this. this is again, a brilliant negotiating ploy on the part of the president, unfortunately i think it looks like he may win at least from a public relations standpoint but that doesn't alter the core truth he is not serious about making any cuts to the federal workforce or federal budget which is consumer ever larger. >> that is not true. >> it is true. president yesterday on television, alan -- >> republicans turned down $2.50 in cuts for every dollar in tax revenue. >> alan, that is totally false. >> it is not false. >> it is not false. they turned down the grand bargain. they had the opportunity to turn it down. continued to say no. newt gingrich said on the one of the sunday morning shows. come on. >> the first and last sin. you watched obama's speech yesterday. he spoke for 12 minutes. the core of it was we need to raise taxes on the top 1%

again. now that just, as a again is question of arithmetic, doesn't work. you can't close the budget gap, you can't even hope to pay down the $15 trillion in debt by taxing the top 1%. that is silly. >> talking about closing tax loopholes. bill: you can argue chicken or egg in this. i know what the white house says about speaker boehner. i know what speaker boehner told us time and again. the president lot of courage. >> calling names. bill: alan, thank you. we'll see you on the radio. tucker, see you back here real soon. gentlemen, thanks. martha. martha: the attack of the drones could be tiny little drones be the future of the us air force? look at little guys. like an insect on the windowsill. they could be the future of the air force. what they plan to do with those next. [sirens] bill: what a scene that was out of the russia when the

meteor hit. some scientists say the best chance to save earth from one of those meteors or maybe an asteroid might come right out of "star wars." we'll show you. ♪ (train horn)

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bill: the air force now with a sneak-peek at the future of the weapon of war. this is an animation now. it shows these tiny unmanned drones. they are designed to look and move like birds and bugs, wow! the drones are said to be a few years away from actual use. once that technology is perfected, they could possibly be armed and capable of taking out enemies with chemicals or explosives? put a camera on board that thing? martha: convicted wife-killer drew peterson is back in a courtroom this morning. he is of course is the ex-policeman who seemed to

kept losing his wives in mysterious ways. he is fighting for a new trial. he faces 60 years behind bars for the murder of his third wife. her body was exhumed, she was found in the bathtub. her name was kathleen savio. steve brown is outside of the courthouse in joliet, illinois. so, steve, what happened on the first day of court? >> reporter: there has been a series of back biting public relations stunts between members of the peterson defense team and that continued. it is the centerpiece of what happened yesterday. questions whether the counsel was legally ineffective when harry smith was called to the stand during the trial. smith was savio's divorce attorney. during that testimony smith said that he had a meeting with stacy peterson, drew peterson's wife number four. in that meeting stacy peterson said she knew drew killed kathleen savio. who called harry smith to the stand for that damaging bit of testimony? in actuality it was joel

brodsky that day. but brodsky and his defense team have been pub lickly arguing in the weeks and months who was responsible for all of this yesterday they had a chance to face off in the witness stand with brodsky being taking the stand questioned by steve greenberg. both side in an interesting situation, yet no questions were asked about harry smith. have a listen. >> we already know it was a bad decision. the record is clear that it was a bad decision. we don't need to ask him his opinion because we don't care what his opinion was. >> i have it in black and white. there were also witnesses. he can stay whatever he wants. if he wanted to i was on the stand, why didn't they ask me? >> reporter: a very good question. brodsky is expected to go back to the stand later today when the hearing resumes. martha? martha: steve, thank you very much. steve brown in joliet, illinois. bill: so the dow is at a five-year high. while the markets are climbing the economy not so

much. why in the world is that? charles payne brings the pain and the explanation. martha: have you seen this morning? senator john mccain got some pretty tough questions in his home state. >> why bring a 30 million -- >> they're here. >> cut off their welfare and all their stuff and they will go back. >> [inaudible]. [applause] tens of thousands of dollars on their 401(k) to hidden fees. is that what you're looking for, like a hidden fee in your giant mom bag? maybe i have them... oh that's right i don't because i rolled my account over to e-trade where... woah. okay... they don't have hidden fees... hey fern. the junkrawer? why would they... is that my gerbil? you said he moved to a tiny farm. that's it, i'm running away. no, no you can't come! [ male announcer ] e-trade. less for us. more for you. [ bop ] [ bop ] [ bop ]

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bill: bit of a fiery town

hall. senator john mccain back home in arizona fielding questions on the hot button issue of immigration. at one point he told one of his con sit cents he pretty much had enough of the questions. roll this. >> they care for our babies. they -- that's what those people do, sir, you're wrong again but go ahead. >> why bring 30 million people into the united states -- >> they're here. >> cut off their welfare and all their stuff and they will go back. >> the overwhelming majority of them -- [applause] >> we can have the military on the border. >> attorney general. that is federal requirement and you're, a senator with a federal government and you're doing nothing about it. you said build the dang. where's the fence? >> in case you missed it i showed you. >> that is not a fence. >> it is not a fence. it is a banana. we're putting up a banana with 600 million dollars of --

>> stealing from everybody in this audience right here. you're taking away from their social security to give it to dependent class of people. >> taking away from their social security. i see. this is orwellian experience. i've had enough sir. you had enough. bill: it went from there. senator mccain is member of so-called gang of eight. a bipartisan group of senators, working on an immigration bill that can pass congress. he is guardedly optimistic about the chances of getting that bill. martha: all right. how about this? the opening bell on wall street right now. the markets open up for business today. the dow really hugging the flat line there for a moment as things get opened up this morning. this happens after the dow reach as five-year high at its close yesterday. there is a sped up look at the action on wall street yesterday. it climbed above 14,000 points, the number just shy of the all-time high reached in 2007. take a look at this. here is a look at the dow's growth and dips over the last two years. overall that is pretty

good-looking chart for the dow 30. there were some low points in 2011. overall you can not fight the trend in the dow chart. we're talking about that in the context of the larger economy and what the administration is doing to try to fix the whole thing. charles payne joins me from the fox business network. good to have you here, charles. >> thank you. martha: we were talking moments ago, my question is, you look what happened with the dow. it has had a very nice trajectory. >> right. martha: if you look at unemployment over the same period it has been a pretty pathetic looking trend. look at the debt, which has skyrocketed during this same period. so what is it that u.s. corporations is allowing them to move higher that perhaps the administration could take a lesson from? >> first and foremost they stopped spending money, right? there is a correlation between corporate profits and higher unemployment. obviously corporations when the great recession began had to lay people off. it is a whole lot more complicated than that.

these are businesses that have to make things happen. they have to live, they can't tax themselves to prosperity. so they have to develop and sell products that people want. that's, in the meantime when there wasn't any demand they cut back. just like households by the way. we had a chart of household debt, we would see it down a trillion dollars. everyone watching the show did the same thing that everyone in corporate america did. they tightened their belts and wetter thised the storm, exact opposite with the debt chart, the government continues to spend, spend. a lot of spending got in the way of real progress within the rest of the economy. martha: so when you look at that, if you're sort of in the administration and look at those charts, you think what are they doing right that we're not doing right? you know, corporations have taken a lot of heat from this administration. >> yeah. martha: they might have a number of reasons why they have been able to benefit. among them the fact that they're leaner. they have fewer employers in many cases. what kind of lessons have they learned in looking overseas as well to find profits and why are they doing that when they can't

find it here? >> listen the rest of the world is trying to catch up to america. there has never been this much prosperity. we spend a lot of time talking about america and europe, but if you look at the entire globe, i don't believe there has ever been this much prosperity in the history of mankind. there is amazing demand. interesting that president obama brought up caterpillar and apple during the state of the union address. caterpillar makes 70% of its money outside the u.s. apple about 66%. that is amazing stuff. they say come here, do business. they're not getting the same sort of reception. they get it in certain states like texas. the overarching theme the businesses are nefarious in some sort of way or greedy in some other kind of way. there is a fear that profits should be public domain, rather than belonging to shareholders and employees and going back into their own business. martha: what you're saying, these corporations are looking for the most marketable venues for themselves around the world. they find where they can make money. when they make that money they can hire more employees,

they can provide benefits for the employees and do all the things that come along with that. it is interesting they're seeking the opportunities overseas. as you point out texas presented a similar equation for california. hey, come here, because we want your business in other words. >> so much money. there has been calculations on the amount of money california lost out from texas, utah, all these other neighboring states that are so much friendlier, hey, when you work whether a corporation or individual you like to keep a large chunk of what you have earned, what you worked for and you've got to make that sort of a policy across the entire country or we'll continue to lose this. you can make it a political argument. you're taking our jobs offshore. money tends to go where money is welcome. that is the bottom line. you can consider it economic darwinism if you like but that is the bottom line and that's what always happens. martha: charles, very interesting. good to talk to you. charles payne from the business network. bill: great point too. 23 minutes before the hour.

president obama keeping it quiet about the time with tiger woods. that famous golfer is talking about, what he is saying about the president's weekend golf game. martha: on alarming video going viral. who is behind this? this is frighting piece of propaganda. we think you should see this. kt mcfarland joins us on that next. three. my credit card rewards are easy to remember with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. [ both ] 2% back on groceries. [ all ] 3% on gas. no hoops to jump through. i earn more cash back on the things i buy the most. [ woman ] it's as easy as... one! -two. -[ all ] three! [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

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bill: we have our hands on this criminaling new propaganda video believed to have been posted by north korea showing american troops and president obama in flames. now this just days after north korea conducted what it claims is successful nuclear test. here is part of the new video. watch it here. ♪ . amateur, no question. but not to be taken lightly. kt mcfarland is a fox news national security analyst, former deputy assistant secretary of defense during the reagan years. good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: part of what was said on that video the united states increasingly unfair bully activities against north korea. a solemn warning that time is no longer on the side of the united states. america should answer. how do you read that? >> look, they're trying to develop nuclear weapons. they're looking for any

excuse they can. so they will blame the united states but the scary part is, bill, you have the right word, amateurish. we should be laughing at this, right? this is so amateurish and juvenile, a young korean leader making amateur videos. last week he had a video about nuking manhattan. the problem he is getting nuclear weapons. bill: a what did the cia say he perhaps has four nuclear bombs at the moment? >> he has enough enriched-uranium to make four nuclear weapons. what do you need to make a nuke? you need enriched-uranium fuel. you need a missile to deliver it. we've seen they tested it. you need a blueprint to put it all together. that is what they're testing now and. the worry when they get nuclear weapons, what happens? i don't think they want to wake up and nuke san francisco. they don't want to pick a fight with us. bill: what about seoul, south korea? >> seoul, south korea, japan. will they need to rearm or

go nuclear? will north korea sell nuclear weapons to iran? they have in the past. when the north korea test as weapon, tapidong. they sell it to the iranians, paint the side and call it the shahab missile. iranians have engineers in north korea helping with the nuclear underground test they had last week. you don't just look at north korea. does iran get nuclear as well. bill: put a fine point on this in the last two months they tested a nuclear weapon underground. thought to be an earthquake at first. later verified to be a nuclear test. they test ad multistage rocket. they're trying to put one on top of the other and join forces and perhaps either use that as a weapon of propaganda or perhaps even more nefarious than that. >> you're absolutely right. you can't dismiss the incredible statements they make because they will have their hands on nuclear weapons within a short period of time. but the question is, what are they going to do with it

and why are they doing it? as you said before, north korea has nothing the world wants. they don't export anything. the only thing they export are weapons. it is only thing they have and they're starving. the only thing they have to sell is weapons they will sell them. bill: the other thing he have they have to sell is the united states. all they do is paint the united states into a picture and blame the u.s. where are they as a country or where are they with propaganda without having the united states to blame? you wonder what we are doing to counter this? or is it our duty and responsibility? or should perhaps be beijing? what is china doing? >> that's right. we have outsourced that to china. we have said, china provides 75% of the north korea's food, fuel oil, heating fuel. let the chinese deal with it. and the chinese have not. they maybe make a statement or two, north korea, shouldn't do this. but they have not stopped north korea. in fact we've seen this week, china is feeling so emboldened it is hacking into every computer in north america. bill: there is a statement also, as the saying this

from north korea. as the saying goes a newborn puppy knows no fear of a tying. i read two things into that. either a new leader, kim jong-un or more of a statement, almost as, maybe a poetic language to say we are the newborn puppy as a nuclear power, that the world now has to address. your view? >> it could go either way. could be the newborn puppy is the new young leader of north korea. doesn't know any fear. doesn't know any bounds. it could be we, north korea, we're the tiger. we got the nukes. you guys should fear us. the problem this is heating up to a boil. in the past this is an area of the world that the chinese have really been content have a low boil. they don't want it to boil over and now threatening to boil over. bill: what does china do? >> that is the big question. bill: because beijing hasn't made a move. >> they have not made a move. i think what they fear, as much as anything that a north korea, if they push

too far, if north korea, if they use their leverage, north korea collapses there are millions of north korean refuges oning across the yalu river causing china problems at a time its economy is slowing down. bill: you mentioned the issue with china this past week and watching north korea. plenty to discuss. kt, we'll see you real soon, all right? to viewers at home, hemmer@foxnews.com is the e-mail. at twitter, @billhemmer. one line, because you asked, bya. we'll get to later in the week. kt. martha. martha: there is a massive snowstorm that is set to slam the midwest. how bad will it get? we have the latest from the fox news extreme weather center. plus this. [scream] bill: after that relatively small meteor took out, well, injured a thousand, scientists have a plan to blow asteroids from the sky.

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bill: president obama staying mum about his much talked about golf game over the weekend with tiger woods but woods not so much. he is playing in a tournament in arizona and the golf superstar saying that he was impressed by the president's game. >> he is a pretty good athlete and we all know he plays a lot of hoop and, you know, i didn't realize, i kind of forgotten he is a lefty. he hit it well. we didn't play under the easiest conditions. got amazing touch.

he can certainly chip-and-putt. if he, ever spent, after these four years, if he spends more time playing the game of golf, i'm sure he could get to where he is a pretty good stick. bill: how about that huh? with tiger on your team, how are you going to lose? come on. he and the president, according to the tiger beat the other two in their foursome. this is picture from 2009. mr. obama came under fire from reporters after the press was barred from the links down there in palm beach, florida. martha: you will hear about it from the other four eventually, right? about this amazing story on friday. a major meteor strike. we believe at this point, if you actually had something like that hit, it really could end life on earth as we know it. so scientists are trying to figure out how they could prevent that from happening. and what we saw last week was a ten-ton rock that slammed into the atmosphere over russia and it injured more a thousand people. look at this video.

[explosion] [alarms ringing] martha: pretty incredible, right? every time i see it i'm would youed by that video. just hours later an asteroid half the size of a football field came between the earth and some of our communications satellites. now some scientists say that the best way to protect our planet may look like something from the movie "star wars." and it would start with building a real-life death star to fend these things off in the skies from slamming into us, okay? that is where we are. cory powell, joins me editor-at-large of "discover" magazine. >> live in amazing times. martha: i feel like you and i had these discussions in the past what could happen, what might happen. friday afternoon was unbelievable. >> i know you have this conversation and it all seems abstract and seems a little bit unreal because we don't see these things. we don't experience them very often but the human brain has a hard time processing catastrophic events that happen rarely. that's what we saw.

two rare things that happened almost at the same time. one hit russia. one narrowly missed us. it is a reminder because they don't happen all the time doesn't mean they can't happen. martha: nasa has their video of this huge 190,000 ton, half the size of a football field. this is what it looks like as it was hurdling towards the earth. that is incredible. for someone like you, cory, that looks at images all the time, what do you think of that? >> this is a radar tracking station. they're bouncing radar, part of the problem is, we don't have very many good ways of tracking these things. we know that there are, at least, 20,000, like city-killer asteroids out there and --. martha: 20,000 city-killer asteroids you said. >> the one that hit russia was a smaller one. there may be a million like that. martha: what do we do? what do we build? is there something that can shoot them out of the sky? that is an incredible thought. >> that is what two

california physicists are proposing, building a laser array in space. depending how big you build it, it could nudge a asteroid away or build a bigger version it could vaporize an asteroid. martha: is it worth it to build something like that? a, would it work and b, are these things so random and happen infrequently it would be a huge expense and not necessarily protection us? >> honestly a death star is kind of getting ahead of ourselves here. it makes great headlines but the really scary thing is there is lot out there and we don't even know where it is. like that russian meteor, if we had slightly better telescope network, we could have given people six hours or a day's worth of warning. it wouldn't have stopped the damage but could have saved a lot of injuries. martha: maybe that is the way to go. >> the amount of money we spend just look something unbelievably small. let me tell you amazing statistic. we spendfy times as much on free poseage for congress as we do searching for asteroids, protecting the

planet. martha: five times as much on free postage for congress? >> exactly. martha: as we do scanning asteroids to find out if something will hit us. that is a fact to take home with you today. something to think about. >> just looking knowing what is out there, giving people a warning, that alone would be huge. martha: would you rather have junk mail from congress in your mail box or be protected from an asteroid. this is the question we ask you today, folks. >> something to think about. martha: cory, always great to have you here. >> it is a privilege to be here. bill: if we could figure out how to go up there to deflect the stuff. martha: or spot it as corey said so you tell people to clear the area, right? >> you need that, whatever you're doing, if you blast them out you need to know where to shoot. martha: yes, good point. good point. thanks, corey? >> thank you. bill: president obama pointing the finger as the clock ticks down to the spending cuts. the white house says if the cuts happen, blame republicans in congress. a leading republican responds to that, next.

martha? martha: vice president joe biden raises some eyebrows with his advice for americans who want to defend their families. watch this. >> buy a shotgun. buy a shotgun. you don't need an ar-15. it is harder to aim. it is harder to use. anouncer ] e square to compare new griddle-melts to your usual breakfast sandwich. a lot more flavor. [ anouncer ] ihop's new griddle melts... made fresh and hot! hand crafted just for you. it's like a sexy sandwich. [ anouncer ] compare new griddle melts yourself. just $4. it's like a sexy sandwich. it's an epic breakfast sandwich.

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martha: a game of political chicken is now unfolding on capitol hill ba as both the white house and republicans play some hard ball over massive automatic spending cuts set to kick in on the march the 1st and the calendar is just ticking away there. brand new hour starts right now in "america's newsroom.". glad to have you with us this wednesday. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning, martha. president and the white house says the blame lies with the other side. >> now republicans in congress face a simple choice. are they willing to compromise to protect vital

investments in national security and all the jobs that depend on them. >> alan simpson, erskin bowles, the co-chairman of the president's fiscal commission today once again obliterated the argument put forward by republicans that we should pursue further deficit reduction in an unbalanced way. martha: republican congressman randy fors joins me now. congressman, welcome. good to have you here. >> thank you, martha. good to be with you. martha: let's kind of break this down a little bit. the president is basically saying that he believes republicans should pass a stopgap measure and go for a bigger deal what he says would be a balanced combination of increases in revenue come from tax loopholes, eliminating those, and spending cuts ostensibly. although we haven't really seen them. >> well, the that's the key, martha. you know the president wanted sequestration. it was his proposal. i thought it was a bad idea.

voted against it over a year ago but the president got it. the president signed it into law. he didn't have to sign it into law. for over a year, martha, from august 2011 through last year the president did nothing to stop it. even made sure his administration couldn't talk about it, couldn't plan for it. as late as september the pentagon was saying they were still trying to understand what the law was. in december they hadn't started. just a few weeks ago they start coming out now with all these dooms day scenarios. the reality is that the president could have stopped it. the house of representatives has passed not one, but two bills that would have stopped it. the senate has done nothing. martha, when the president talks about a balanced budget, most americans think what he means we balance the amount of money coming in with the amount of money coming out. martha: right. >> that is not what the president talks about with balance. martha: that is interesting, jay carney quoted alan simpson but the other thing he did not quote that alan simpson said, if this president does not get serious about deficit

reduction, including taking on medicare and social security and reforming those entitlement programs, that he will have a failed presidency. do you think that is a message republicans have done a good job getting across? >> well, martha, i think that it is very difficult sometimes when you look at the crisis we're facing right now, you look at most of the questions to the president last week when he is out playing golf, is whether or not he beat tiger woods. it wasn't whether or not he has done anything to stop sequestration. the other thing people don't realize, martha, a lot of times the president already spent this money. when he had the stimulus package, it was $825 billion. the interest on that is about 347 billion. if you add that together, that's a about the amount of sequestration we're talking about right there. and so, it is something that the president has to step up to the plate. he has said in his administration has said the number one challenge to our national defense is the debt, the president will do

nothing but continue to let spending soar out of control. martha: in terms of the gop message on this, you guys basically gave in on increasing tax rates. that was the initial thing that, you know, the country was told needed to happen if the president was going to get the balance that he was seeinging. now he is coming back to republicans and saying, you know that he believes that rich people, and the well-connected, let's play this spot. they need to pay more. we will play the sound bite from yesterday. >> i'm willing to save hundreds of billions of dollars by enacting comprehensive tax reform that gets rid of loopholes and tax deductions for the well-off and well-connected without raising tax rates. martha: what do you think about that, sir? >> first of all, martha, what the president does every time he constantly moves the goalpost. he said he wanted higher rates. he got them. but that wasn't enough. we got to understand when the president is talking about comprehensive tax reform some of the things he is talking about in there, he is talking about doing

away with charitable deductions which could be a part of that. part of it could be to do away with mortgage interest deduction. taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income. all of that could have an enormous impact on the economy and the middle class of america. so i think it is time for the president to do what we need to do, which is real in spending, get a control and a handle on spending and try to balance the amount of money takes in with what is going out. martha: taking on social security and medicare as alan simpson suggested? >> that is an important thing for us to put on the table. as you mentioned most of the experts have looked at it and said we can't sustain this mandatory spending we have over the next decade. it will bankrupt the country. martha: congressman forbes, thank you very much. good luck, guys. >> thank you, martha. day. bill: on that same note, leon panetta apparently sent out a letter to all the employees at the pentagon and the department of defense, about 800,000 civilian employees set to be furloughed through the month

of march, rather. so we're watching that story and gauging its impact. nine days away before this takes effect. five minutes past the hour. want to get this story now. vice president joe biden, raising some eyebrows during an online event about gun control telling the audience they do not need assault weapon to protect their families or their homes. instead by buy a shotgun. >> buy a shotgun. buy a shot gun. jill, if there is ever a problem, walk out on the balcony, put out that double barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house. you don't need an ar-15. it is harder to aim. it is harder to use. and in fact, you don't need 30 round to protect yourself. bill: biden also says he keeps two shotguns and shells locked up at his home in wilmington, delaware. what about this now? erick erickson, editor of redstate.com, fox news contributor. good morning to you.

>> good morning. i guess he doesn't need the see credit service. bill: you got this two, five years plus. why does he answer the question that way? >> because i think the white house and democrats made a very bad decision in their handling of the gun control issue where they they left the impression with lot of americans they want to come back after every long barreled gun, not particular assault rifles. they're trying to get joe bide own out there. there is not just biden, but the president with skeet shooting and others, making the case they're not opposed to shotguns. this is second time he has done this. a couple weeks ago in google hangout he said you don't need an ar-15 after either wake in california with looters and rioters. you don't need a ar-15. bill: you think he is expressing this right way? >> sound like taking his last comment and this one, that you could do more damage and hit more people with a shotgun than ar-15

which some degree undermines their argument we need to get rid of ar fifth teens. bill: told his wife jill, if there is problem, walk out to the balcony and put out that shotgun and fire two blasts at. it leaves the i am fregs if there is a bad guy out there, he will run away. >> i'm not sure, is it legal to stand on your balcony in residential area to fire your shotgun off? i think the white house needs to get with the vice president and clarify these talking points. clearly there is coordinated effort here. you have don't hear two things come on two separate occasions from the vice president and others in the white house unless they sat around they needed to talk up shotguns to talk down assault rifles. i'm not exactly sure what they're thinking. one. downsides on democrats on this, most of the democrats talking about these issues are not just anti-long barrel gun, they're anti-gun. they don't deal with guns. they're not from the culture. it is difficult to talk about something they're not even familiar with.

bill: i think the question caught him off-guard. if you go back a little bit. this was a facebook online chat that was also in video form as you just saw. the question came in from the moderator, and said the woman asked do you believe that banning certain weapons and high-capacity magazines will mean law-abiding citizens will become more of a target to criminals? biden interrupts is this "parents magazine"? and the moderator said, actually that came up again and again. it is. biden said i have "parents magazine" in my home. i never heard anybody in the magazine ask these kinds of questions. >> they should be prepared for these questions. again i think one. problems democrats sigh in their own internal polling americans feel like they want to take more than just assault rifles away and they have to clarify. i find it hard to believe he is somewhat surprised by this he got the same question a couple weeks ago in completely different chat from a guy in california asking him about whether or not they would be opposed to protecting himself after looting from an earthquake. he said the same thing.

get a shotgun. bill: my read he was not surprised to get the question but was surprised in this forum in "parents magazine"/facebook. >> parents want to protect their kids. bill: right on. look out for the secret service. they're right behind you. erick erickson out of georgia. thank you, sir. martha: america's heartland is bracing for a new round of some nasty winter weather in the coming days. you can see parts of the midwest is already starting to get hid with more snow in the month of february. they have a heavy wave of it coming through and bitter cold moving across the region. meteorologist maria molina is live in our fox weather center to tell us what is going on out there. good morning, maria. >> hi, martha. good to see you. good morning everyone. we're tracking an area of low pressure over california and arizona producing areas of rain and snow over the high elevations. this system will get going, head eastbound and start to produce several inches of snow across portions of the four corners region before

eventually moving into the central plains. that is when it will strengthen and produce very heavy snow. we have moisture ahead of this system producing rain around the dallas area, parts of arkansas, on the northern side of the storm. where temperatures are cold enough for snow. we have that coming down across kansas and oklahoma. it is really kansas expecting some heaviest snowfall accumulations. we're talking about two feet possible. otherwise some icing will also be a concern across portions of northern arkansas. anywhere between a quarter to 3/4 of an inch of ice can accumulate. we're talking about power lines coming down and even tree branches coming down. keep that in mind. the heaviest of the snow expected across portions of kansas. between colorado and wisconsin, we could see six inches of snow. martha, on the southern end of this system, severe weather will be possible across dallas, abilene. tornados will be possible. martha: winter hanging on. maria, thank you very much. we'll keep an eye out for it. bill: to this controversial

campaign designed to promote diversity. have a quick look. >> what do you mean we're lucky to be white? >> it is not luck, it is privilege. >> we're privileged that people see us, not a color. bill: question, is it fair it say that a person's privileged because of their skin color? fair and balanced debate takes that on in a moment. >> it could be a piv tam moment in the trial of a woman accused of stabbing her boyfriend 27 times. then slitting his throat. jodi arias back on the stand and expected to describe what actually happened that night. bill: also he is nine years old with a unique goal of spanning the globe. says he wants to run around the world. believe it or not very soon is antarctica. first, he stops by here today. >> we had pediatric cardiologists look at him, test him. pediatric sports doctors, making sure that his training regimen is a cautious one. >> really in the last couple

years i don't think he has missed one day of running. look what mommy is having. mommy's having a french fry. yes she is, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle.

bill: the man accused of killing chandra levy wants another trial. you remember levy was a congressional intern who disappeared during the summer of 2001. her body was found a year later in a washington d.c. area park. he was convicted of her murder in 2010. he is serving a 60-year prison sentence. now defense attorneys say newly-released documents show the case against him was based on false testimony. they're filing for a new trial. martha: this is a provocative one for you. a public university in wisconsin is standing by a controversial ad campaign that claims to raise awareness of issues of racism in our country. it features white students with slogans like, unfair, and privileged, scribbled across their faces in pen and ink. take a look. >> what do you mean we're

lucky to be white? >> it is not luck, it is privilege. >> we're privileged people see us, not a color. >> privilege that we don't get stared at when we walk into a room. >> privileged we don't get followed by security when we go shopping. >> or pulled over when we're in the wrong neighborhood. >> we're privileged because society is set up for us and our silence keeps it in place. >> we're privileged, and that's unfair. martha: very interesting i guess is one word for it. jehmu green, joins me, former president of the women's media center and fox news contributor. michael gram, radio talk show host and columnist for "the boston herald." jehmu, let's start with you. what is your reaction? >> good morning, martha. i think to start with, i truly believe in the lyric from the ronnie dunne song we all bleed red. now this campaign has really good intentions, and they can check something off of their box because by being

provocative, they wanted to start a conversation. they wanted to have a dialogue taking place outside of one of the flare-ups or controversial moments or moments of crisis in which we usually talk about racism. and they wanted to have an honest dialogue and create a safe space for that. i think they have done that. now is the provocativeness, has it pushed the campaign to be the center of the attention and maybe taking away from the conversation they have created? probably just a little and i think they have made some adjustments to it. to come to the point, if you ignore racism, it is not going to go away. martha: michael, what do you think? >> i can't imagine a better way to promote racism to point at people, hey, look at color of your skin, you, your skin color. look what it does to you, for you, about you. that of course is the problem with the american left. they are obsessed with race. constantly campaign, should vote for people based on race.

segregate people into voting districts based on race. a pretty terrifying way to look at world. on behalf of, on my radio show i call myself the geekiest white guy east of the mississippi river. i'm prepared right now if my race is problem, unfair if i'm white, i'm happy to change. if you can find another race that will take my. i've been turned down by anybody. if you know somebody could can get me in i will be happy to make the switch. it is really sad to tell a bunch young college kids, impressionable, what is wrong in the world there is something wrong with you because of your skin color. martha: that is very interesting. when you talk to young people, they rarely refer to each other like, oh, this is my black friend or my asian friend. i'm struck by the fact when i hear younger people, college kids, you know, kids my children's age, they never talk in those terms. so i'm wondering if this doesn't highlight something they, you know, they're not sensing perhaps in the way anyway? that prior generations did?

>> well, martha, i think you have to look at the strategy behind this campaign --. martha: what is it? what is their goal? what are they trying to achieve? >> they're trying to start a conversation, and look what are we doing right now? we're talking about it. i think michael, you probably agree with me on this, that politicians aren't going to solve the problem of racism. it is going to take education. it is probably going to take even comedy as a, former stand-up, comic you should understand that. but the strategy here is to say by focusing in on one specific racial group and, broadly generalizing them, stereotyping them and the feeling of uncomfortable that has created within white people who have seen this campaign, i think what i have heard the mayor of duluth, minnesota, who has been involved in this campaign, that is the same thing that many brown and black people feel every single day. so the reaction, that white people have had to this campaign is the same feeling

that many people of color have every single day of their life. that is a connector. martha: there are plenty of white people who feel separated from society for economic reasons, for plenty much other reasons. >> for sure. martha: i feel like, it is unjustified to have people with things written across their face that society was created for me. i'm not sure that they feel that way because they're white. they have a myriad of economic issues and other things that enter into the whole picture about how they feel about their place in society. michael, let's get one more thought from you. >> i grew up in rural south carolina. trust me the folks in the trailer park that were white, felt privileged living at bare minimum wage of society. i'm in a unique spot. they flipped format to hip-hop. i lost my job to rihanna and jay-z and started my own radio network in new england. show me where the white privilege card is i will

fill it out and happy to collect my checks. martha: last word, jehmu. >> it is not as simplistic as michael wants to make it. at the end of the day this is well-intentioned campaign, martha, started a conversation here on fox news, the most watched cable news station in america. they're successful with it. martha: thank you for the plug. always good to see you. see you around the watercooler later. michael, thanks as well. see the writing on my face? bill: facing billions of dollars in debt, the post office has a new idea to make money. it has nothing to do with delivering your mail.

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fashion. you think postal service you think fashion, right? the agency teamed up with an ohio-based clothing company. they are launching a new line called, rain, sleet and snow, sponsored by their official creed. the expected launch date is sometime next year. that is very exciting when. you go sking next year you will be united states postal service on your back. bill: my mailman bob. will look terrific. martha: he is sharp dresser anyway. bill: pivotal testimony expected today in the trial of jodi arias. she is 32 years old, accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend, travis alexander in 2008. today she will describe exactly what happened the night she was killed. vicky ward is a fox news contributor watching the trial in phoenix. vick where do we stand stand right now? >> reporter: hey, bill. it is electric in the courtroom. it was electric yesterday. it will be electric today.

we're moments away from hearing jodi arias tell us how she killed her boyfriend travis alexander. she stabbed him 27 times. she shot him, she slit his throat. yesterday she talked about the knife at the scene for the first time. she said it was a kitchen knife. the coupled used it to cut up a rope. no word yet how she got ahold of a gun. we heard about mounting tension inside the house for the first time. we talked about travis alexander getting angry. let's take a listen. >> he said he grabs her arm, point both your arms, spun you around. >> grabbed both my arms and spun me around and grabbed me behind the back. >> did you say anything? did you tell him to knock it off? >> no. >> why not? >> i didn't want to make him even more pissed off.

>> reporter: bill, after this, jodi arias says the couple went up to travis alexander's bathroom. this is where the crime took place. this is where his body was found. this is the most crucial moment in the trial. bill: do we think the defense will wrap up with jodi soon, vicki? >> reporter: not necessarily, bill. she still has a lot of explaining to do after she is described the actual crime. first of all why did she not call 911? why did she then go to travis alexander's funeral and why did she keep changing her story and not admit until, so the first time, actually yes, she killed this man in self-defense? a lot of explaining to do, bill. bill: certainly is. vicki. thank you in phoenix, arizona there, vicky ward. 28 minutes past the hour. >> reporter: thank you very much. martha: will be something to watch. the price at the pump we're talking about this week got

a little bit higher. 34 days in a row now. is there any relief in sight or does it keep on going? bill: also the olympian oscar pistorius facing questions in court on what police say they found inside of his bedroom. testosterone and needles. the defense responded to that claim. our legal panel weighs in on how the discovery could affect

$4.05. some of the refinery issues are coming to an end. there is light at the end of the tunnel. maybe our nightmare is coming to an end. >> it has a long way to come back down. this is my understanding as to why. the refineries every year around this time when demand is low, they switch over to different blends.

is that the rational? and if that is the case what would be different this february from february a year ago? >> it's totally different. let's talk about hurricane sand deal. out on the east coast of course that set back that refining process back weeks, if not months, if not years. we had a very cold winter in europe. usually we get he can ports from europe. not happening this year. you look on the west coast a few months ago we had a major refinery fire. the refineries that would have gone into maintenance earlier couldn't because they had to keep producing gas hraoefpblt they all went down at the same time. you have another refinery issue down on the texas area on the gulf coast. you have had a nightmare of refining issues. at the same time the price of oil has gone up over $10 a barrel since december, you know, mainly because around the tkpwhraoeb every central bank in the world is printing a lot of money. when that happens it makes oil more valuable.

>> we are paying more than 4 bucks. what are they paying in chicago? >> i've seen as high as 4:50 in th4.50 in the downtown area. bill: this is ridiculous. if we had an at plan and the keystone pipeline, if those things got in motion would we still face the issues we are looking out today, phil? >> probably not. over the long run the era of high gasoline prices are coming to an end, that is the good part of the story. we have to get the infrastructure in place to get this new-found oil from canada and from the oil sands to the refineries. when that happens we will have an abundance of crude and see more stable prices in the future. in the short term you better buckle up. right now the way our envelope possible see is we are seeing federally mandated short anales every year because of the way they write the legislation. bill: thank you, phil.

hopefully it's going in the direction you point out. thank you, sir. martha: speaking of energy there are new potential road blocks for the drilling technique known as fracking. new york governor andrew cuomo shelving plans to open his state to gas exploration. as part of our on going series energy in america senior national correspondent john roberts is live in atlanti atlanta with this tale of two states. >> reporter: new york at a deadline at end of february whether or not to issue rules regarding fracking. it will miss that deadline. the reason why under intense process from environmental experts they want more information about health affects. what about the economic part of fracking. we visited bradford county. some 1200 gas wells have been fracked well. a city now a boom down.

even if the recent slow down in city it's still pretty good times in bradford county. it has a vibrant downtown, very few vacant store fronts. it retired its 5 hill dollar debt and lowered property tax ebbs by 6%. gas drilling there has really been a game changer. >> the amount of job growth has been phenomenal. the amount of business growth has been phenomenal. >> the resection of 2008 passed us over. we did not feel it here in bradford county. the leasing was going on there. >> it goes through ebbs and flows, by and large if a person wants a job they have a job. they can go to work toepl morning. >> reporter: there have been problems in bradford county, water well contamination from a poorly constructed well but that well was plugged and the e park a says the water is now safe to drink. martha: what is the issue really in new york. why do they not want to share in what is seen as this prosperity

in other places? >> reporter: martha, for many people in new york state that is a good question, particularly folks who live in binghamton and elmira where the unemployment is in the high 8's or 9%. they look at pennsylvania and they say we do not want that here in new york state. one of those opponents i talked toys autumn, an apple grower who uses those apples to make hard cider. very popular like in places like ne new york city. >> our entire business relies on water. we irgreat our orchard with water. we wash our tanks and apples with water. if our water is contaminated we are either going to shut our business down or move out of new york state. >> reporter: andrew cuomo was a supporter of franking. now he's on the fence witness. delay, delay, delay.

many people think with him considering running for president in 2016 he doesn't want to upset environmental voters and have them turn against them for green lighting fracking. martha: thank you. bill: there are new developments now in the shocking murder case involving the blade runner. what police say they found. and the former olympian's mansion, what it could mean for his bail hearing. will he get out? is there a chance of that? our legal panel will take on that. martha: running a marathon is a pretty big deal at any age i would say, so how about running a marathon at 9 years old in antarctica? we are going to talk to this little run ir. he'l runner. he'll make you feel a little lazy today i bet. coming up.

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martha: new details coming out this morning of this incredible story of olympian oscar pistorius' murder case. police are now saying that they have found testosterone and needles in the athlete's bedroom. we'll talk about what the potential impact of all that could be. he says, as you know, if you have followed this over the past several days, there he is in court in the morning. he says he accidentally shot and killed his girlfriend because he thought that a robber had barricaded, himself, herself into his bathroom. that is the story and he's sticking with us. art they are eye call adjoins us a criminal defense attorney and fox news analyst. and anna sigalatza, a defense attorney. welcome to you both. as this stacks up it's looking very difficult. if you were going to take this on, arthur how would you defend him at this point? >> i know you were just using a term of art, but i think he does maybe just have to have his story and stick to it.

i'm not a normal person, okay, i don't have legs, i'm in my bed in my home where i'm supposed to feel the most secure, the most safe in the whole world n my bedroom. i don't have my blade runners right neck to me. i hear something. maybe he's going to say i overreacted, my instincts were too strong and powerful and i made this tremendous, horrible mistake. i was not involved with this woman long enough, deep enough, emotionally enough. martha: to know whether or not she was lying in the bed next to me. >> to want to kill her. to want to kill her. in other words, it it's not like this was a three year relationship where there is so much angst and anxiety. they were only together for a couple of months. martha: ann a. you've got reports of screams coming from the house, shots being heard, and my feeling, if it turns out that it's her, if he fires one shot through the door, if she is

still alive on that first shot, what is the first thing she is going to do. what are you doing, screaming, it's me, what are you doing? what are you doing. >> we need to get the evidence out. see where she got shot. >> even at best after he hears the screams, the first, second, third, fourth shot. maybe the best thing for him is they found those substances. i think that will washing into some sort of defense the roid rage defense doesn't normal low work because people who claim it have a predisposition or are prone to violent outburst. so much things do not add up. first awful, wh of all, why is the bathroom door locked if they are this blissful couple that he claims in the middle -fl th of the night when they are just the two of them. he claims there is an trued tkefrplt he gets to the bed he shall lee reports said the holster was under the bed o

under the mattress on her side of the bed. he had twit terd h twitterded that he believed there was an intruder in the house and he got himself combat ready. >> she is bringing in roid rage, his history. again i don't know the laws inside and out in south africa. if there is any kind of emotional disturbance, or has to do with his mental state, it's different than martha's. martha could get out of the bed and run. he cannot get out of the bed and run. and look i believe this is not a jury system. martha: the one thing we do know so far about the south africa system is that it will be a judge. i mean how does that change the way you try to work this? you're not working as a defense in particular you're not working those couple of people on the jury that you might be able to get reasonable doubt from.

tough bar to -- >> south africa laws have got even much more strict in the last couple of years. you can only claim self-defense up to the moment that the threat is imminent. once they are down it's over the threat is gone, you no longer have it. even if he believed true lease, which i doubt, based on everything that this was an intruder, his defense is lost after the first, the second shot. martha: the depends on the witnesses in that neighborhood. you think of the barking dog in the oj case and how they broke down every moment. if they say i heard screams at, whatever, 10:45 and then i heard a shot, and then it was another 30 second and then i heard another shot. >> the difference between what is going on here is there aren't these protracted bail hearings in new york. we would not even be able to know all of these facts. we are getting everything now and let's face it, especially with modern technology, a lot more is going to come out overt

next days, weeks and months about technicalities, where the shooting was and where she got shot first and the second wound and third wound, and who heard what and when they heard it and all of that will come down -- martha: no way he gets bail. >> she wasn't in bed clothes she was dressed. >> thank you, martha heights always a pleasure. martha: always a pleasure. bill: jon scott standing by. jon: did i just hear arthur aidala say he's not a normal person? bill: i don't even know if he needed to say those words. i think it was an assumed thing around here. jon: breaking news on that terrible gas explosion last night in kansas city at least 14 people are injured. we will take you there live. plus, what action will the white house take on the growing cyber threat from china? we were all over this developing story yesterday. now the u.s. is pledging some

kind of action, but what? all this as there are new situations in north korea as well. we have several updates on hot court case, the jodi arias, the drew peterson sentencing, the oscar pistorius bail hearing and much more. bill: he is only nine years old, he has a goal that will be admired by everyone of any age. and his next goal will leave you cold. we'll explain. oh! progress-oh! [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons people are saying "progress-oh!"

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bill: here is a story out of pennsylvania. a young man from from westchester pa repairing nor a remarkable athletic achievement. he's training for a marathon in

antarctica, and get this he's nine years old e. does it for chara see. nicholas is my guest right now. brave young man attempt th-g amazing tphaet an amaze amazing feat and his mother is also with me, tara. thank you nor joining us. when you're viewers know that you've been involved in many races at the young age that you are right now. you completed your first marathon already, and your goal is to run a marathon on all seven continents around the world and that's what brings you to antarctica, is that right? >> yes, yes. bill: what do you know about antarctica already? >> um, i know that 98% of it is covered in ice. but i'm running on the 2% that is not. [laughter] bill: i like that. also it's summer down there, so you get a little bit of an edge right now. maybe what ha they are saying is like 35 degrees or something like that. >> yeah. bill: i want our audience to understand why you're doing that.

tell us. >> i am doing this because i would like to raise money for operation warm, and operation warm is a nonprofit organization that provides new coats to kids that can't aeu gnome ford them. bill: and who started that charity. >> my grandfather, dick stanford. bill: what dead he do that? >> he started it in 1998. bill: really. 14 years down the road you're continuing the legacy of your grandfather. what would he say about that? bill: he thinks it's really cool and he's really proud of me. bill: what does your mom think about this. though? woe, let's ask tara about it. he's young, you know he's still growing, what kind of advice have you given him or how do you watch him when you've got an ambitious young man who wants to run marathon's, tara? >> when he first came up with this idea my first reaction as a

mom of course was, let's make sure that this is a safe and healthy think that you can do. we went through all the right channels to make it safe and healthy. he has a training regiment that is -- that is over seen by sports medicine experts, so we're doing it the right way. bill: you watched his first marathon in delaware two months ago, right? how did he do then? >> yes. it was amazing. he had a smile on his face from beginning to end. he was so happen here. he just loves to run, and the thing that i'm most proud of is that he's taking something that he loves so much and helping kids at the same time. that was all his idea, so it's just so amazing to me. bill: you're an impressive young man, nicolas, but antarctica is a long way from delaware. >> it sure is. bill: so if you're successful on the next marathon where would

you like to go after that? >> well, we are thinking about mongolia for the next marathon, but it's not official yet, so we are not sure. bill: all right. plenty of time to plan that, you can do that on the plane flight home okay. i want to wish you the absolute best of luck and we'll put our website on our home page foxnews.com/"america's newsroom." so viewers out there if they can give to your charity we'll encourage that and help it grow. you're doing a great thing, nicholas, congratulations, good luck and dress warm. thank you, tear r tara for coming on today. martha: it's hard to believe he smiled the whole way throughout marathon when he didn't smile at all in the interview. he's so cute. what a great boy. bill: what a great example. martha: a good example for all of us. a shopping area, wait until you hear this story. i mean this explosion is

unbelievable. look at what happened here, a desperate search is now underway for the missing in this explosion in kansas city last evening. but hope is beginning to fade there. we'll get you a live report from the scene there. kansas city at the top of the hour. be right back. this is so sick! i can't believe your mom let you take her car out. this is awesome! whoooo! you're crazy. go faster! go faster! go faster! go faster! no! stop...stop... go(mom) i rais my son to bester! careful... hi, sweetie. hi, mom. (mom) but just to be safe... i got a subaru. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru a subaru.